How do you have your central heating set?

[techguyone]

Oh yes, Rads in the toilet, bathroom, & kitchen are all turned off. Bedroom ones are only on low as we don't like hot sleeping & the master rad is in the downstairs hall.

So we're only running 3 rads on full, and another 3 on partial, with another 3 not on at all. I'm guessing that must help with the consumption of gas to some degree.

[DES_1001]

Been really tight and not used ours yet! But when we do it's set at 21 if the temp falls below 21 it kicks in.

[MovedGoalPosts]

In many respects how things are going to work best will be a balance between what you can afford and how your home is built. Think not only about energy and air temperature, think too about structure temperatures, condensation and other risks. Frequently I see problems where people raise the air temperature for short periods, without ventilation, the warm air supports greater humidity, yet the walls and other surfaces are cold and people then complain of black mould condensation when the warm humid air hits that cold surface.

It takes a lot of effort to heat a building from cold. If you are only heating for 2 or 3 hours, especially in poorly insulated homes, it's possible your home didn't even get to the desired temperature.

Equally it is unnecessary to have your house heated 24/7 to it's comfortable occupancy temperature. That is just wasteful.

So find a balance. My house has solid walls, difficult to insulate, so I don't want it to cool too much, both for condensation risks, but also that on the coolest days it takes too long to get to temperature. Thermostatic radiator valves control individual rooms so those that are less used can be kept a bit cooler. But the programmable room stat controls the heating system that is allowed to be on 24/7, to keep the house at around 19 deg when I get up and am rushing around to get to work, so don't need comfort temperatures, 14 deg during the day, 20/21 deg in the evening and around 15 deg overnight. Unless it is really cold the system doesn't have to come on much during the day or night

[Osem]

Originally Posted by techguyone

Oh yes, Rads in the toilet, bathroom, & kitchen are all turned off. Bedroom ones are only on low as we don't like hot sleeping & the master rad is in the downstairs hall.

So we're only running 3 rads on full, and another 3 on partial, with another 3 not on at all. I'm guessing that must help with the consumption of gas to some degree.

I think that's where a lot of people are wasting a whole lot of money. All the heating's on all the time. No wonder their bills are so high.

Even shutting doors helps quite a bit to keep heat in the right places.

When it comes to electricity, turning off appliances which are not in use also helps but it's surprising how many people just leave everything on and then have a fit when the bills arrive. Frankly I don't think a lot people understand how much this costs them.

[martin201002]

I don't have a thermostat on my heating, controls are on the boiler. I put my heating on when the kids first go to bed. My living area is heated by two electric fires.

[Taf]

TRV's set to 18c in bedrooms, 21c in the living, bathroom and dining rooms. Hallway rad fully open as it's controlled by the master thermostat that kicks in at 18c.

Keeping doors shut allows it all to work efficiently.

Heating on a timer set to come on an hour before we get up, shuts down for an hour so that the house can be aired, then back on until an hour until we retire for the night.

---------- Post added at 14:47 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

Originally Posted by martin201002

My living area is heated by two electric fires.

Costing about 3 times as much as gas heating per khw.

[nashville]

From 08:00 21 Degrees till midnight. I don't go much lower as I would be freezing. I just cannot stand the cold.

[SnoopZ]

Mine comes on at 4am and goes off at 7am then it comes on again at 4pm and off at 11pm and around 21c, i over ride it though when i am in the house and freezing my tits off!

Well, it's a bit different for us as we are running a wood pellet boiler. They take a little while to get going, and continue to heat the house for at least half an hour after the flame dies, so you need to plan a little more carefully.

Also, our house is very poorly insulated, so it is generally better to keep it running at a low setting than it is to be turning it on and off all the time. When the system is properly hot, the wood also burns more efficiently.

Having said all that, our fuel costs are going up a lot more slowly than mains gas. It is still more expensive for us than someone with a gas boiler, but the difference is narrowing.

[AbyssUnderground]

I have mine come on for an hour at 7am-8am, then 5.15pm-6.15pm, then 8pm-9pm and 10.30pm-11.30pm. In the coldest weeks of winter I put it on at 3am-4am too to take the chill off.

I tried keeping it on the whole evening when at home and it seemed to cost more on the bill. I have no thermostat except the mechanical ones on the radiators which are all on full because otherwise they never get hot.

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

I have mine come on for an hour at 7am-8am, then 5.15pm-6.15pm, then 8pm-9pm and 10.30pm-11.30pm. In the coldest weeks of winter I put it on at 3am-4am too to take the chill off.

I tried keeping it on the whole evening when at home and it seemed to cost more on the bill. I have no thermostat except the mechanical ones on the radiators which are all on full because otherwise they never get hot.

Are you sure those are thermostats on your rads and not just valves? If you have a thermostat on a radiator, it should allow the rad to run at full temp until target temperature is reached, then it should shut off the water flow.

If you just have a valve on a radiator, then it will restrict the flow at all times, and as you describe, will result in the radiator being permanently warm rather than properly hot.

[AbyssUnderground]

Yes it is, as they are numbered and has the defrost only icon lower on the dial. In all likelihood they're just old and the springs are worn.

You might save on your fuel bills if you get them renewed. Constantly heating your house from cold uses more fuel than keeping the temperature constant.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

Yes it is, as they are numbered and has the defrost only icon lower on the dial. In all likelihood they're just old and the springs are worn.

Well worth replacing so that they do their job correctly. They don't least forever. New electrically-operated ones are better but more expensive.

Our lad had the misguided impression that turning them up to a higher number caused the room to heat faster, when in fact they only control the minimum/maximum temperature of the room.

Setting the boiler temperature for CH can have surprising results: too high and the rads become a danger for youngsters and the old; too low and they never manage to pump out enough heat to warm the house. Plus at low temps the pump runs far too long wasting electricity.

Also, too hot can cause the boiler to spurt out over-expanded water via the over-pressure valve, or in systems with a header tank in the attic, the attic can fill with steam!

[Uncle Peter]

21 here too , 18 at night and it stays that way for much of the winter.

I've just had to get a new receiver box installed as it was very flaky in responding to signals from the wireless thermostat, even though it's only a couple of years old. These things often tend to crop up when you use the heating first time after a wee while so the British Gas Homecare is invaluable.